In this issue

 New season started

First starts - 03 Apr 11 - Photos Jerry Hone

Lovely weather for the first two weeks of the season, even if the lack of wind made sailing a bit boring on 10th April. Ah well, the runners taking part in the Brighton Marathon didn't regret missing a sailing day...

With a decent turnout for the first four races, the Results for the Easter series are starting to take shape. In the coming months, find all results in the Results 2011 page on this website.

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 Average points for duties

If you have been watching the results for the Easter series 2011, you will have noticed that members who are on duty score points in the series. This is a new initiative taken by the sailing committee to encourage volunteers. The sailing instructions 2011 have been revised accordingly and state:

• 15.2 A helm who is on duty during a race as Race Officer, Assistant Race Office, Primary Rescue Boat Helm or Crew, or one of the two Canteen staff shall be awarded average points for that race.
• 15.3 The number of times that this award can be used in a series is limited by the number of races sailed as follows:

  Greater than 10	2
  4-10	1
  1-3	None

• 15.4 Average points shall be calculated at the end of the series and shall be the average of all the races in which they were ranked as a starter. Should they have more than one entry in a series then the average points will be awarded to the entry in which they have been a ranked as a starter the most times.

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 Two talks coming soon

Two evening talks are coming at the start of this season, that might help all of us sail better, or at least understand why we are not.

Wednesday 20th April: "Sea Breeze" with Mike Croker

"Ever wondered where that promising south easterly morning breeze went to (like last Sunday), or why that gentle north westerly turned into a southerly force 5?
Mike Croker explains all (well, most of it) next Wednesday 20 April at 7:30pm.
Bar open from 7pm; fish'n chips or pizza afterwards."

Friday 13th May: "Win races without sailing any faster" with Pete Matthews

Later in the season, Pete will give us tips on how to win races. I suspect it will focus more on increasing one's skills rather than drilling holes in all the other competitors' hulls. I bet pushing stones in hatches will be prohibited too...

Pete has given talks at Lancing SC before, especially on how to handle Lancing beach. See Pete's notes in a .pdf format on this site. It might help to keep out of trouble.

Both talks start at 7.30pm at the club and will be followed by food (Fish&Chips or pizza) and the bar will be open. Unmissable!

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 LSC bike ride on 22 April

This year, the bike ride will happen on Good Friday, 22nd April. We will meet on the car park of Bramber Castle, cycle up the Downs Link to Southwater, have lunch and turn back. Pretty much the same as last year...

Because Good Friday is so late this year, I thought we could have picnics instead of buying food at the café. We can get coffees and chocolate from them, so we don't cheat them of all trade.

Jan Hone has kindly volunteered to take all the picnics in her car in the morning and deliver them in Southwater when she is joining us for lunch. It saves us carrying too much weight.

Please let me know if you would like to come so we don't leave without you. Call 01273 703512, email isa.j@ntlworld.com or reply to the message on the forum. There's also an event created on Facebook if you are in the LSC group.

See you all there!

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 Good practice

If you have a look at Pete Matthews's notes for his previous presentation on Lancing Beach, you will notice that there is a strong emphasis on helping each other to launch and come up the beach.

Landing on the beach and dragging boats up to the top aren't the easiest parts of the sailing day and are almost impossible to achieve alone. Lancing SC sailors has always been great in helping each other, catching boats and pulling them up the beach. On the first day back however, we saw most of the slow fleet finish the second race, pack up and leave without waiting for the fast fleet, the Toppers or the safety boats.

Of course it was only the first day, it was cold and people were hungry but good practice makes life easier for everyone. Thanks!

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 Lancing Sailing Club on Facebook

If you are a member of the social networking website Facebook, you can join the Lancing Sailing Club group. You don't need to be a LSC member to join the group, it's open to everyone. You get invites to parties and social events.
You can also upload your sailing photos for everyone to see. Scroll the list of group members and add them as your friends!

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